In the previous post in this series on interpreting Ordos, I looked primarily at the importance of the liturgical week. Today I want to move onto the level, or 'Class' of the day, since this determines whether or not you will be saying the ‘default’ or ferial Office, or will need to look for extra texts to supplement the psalter.
Sundays (=Dominica/Dom)
Sundays, for example, in the 1962 rubrics, are always either Class I or Class II.
If the Sunday is Class II, you will normally only need the collect and canticle antiphons of the relevant week.
If it is Class I however, there will generally be specific antiphons for the psalms, and other texts that displace the ones for the chapter, hymn, versicle and so forth that are used throughout the year or within a particular season.
This Sunday, for example, is Class II, so just uses the normal Sunday texts at the day hours:
Sunday 22
November– Twenty-fifth and last Sunday after Pentecost/Fifth Sunday of November,
Class II
Next Sunday, however, is the First Sunday of Advent, which is Class I, and so has special texts for all of the hours, set out in the temporale section of your Office book:
Sunday 29 November – First Sunday of
Advent, Class I
Or:
Dominica I Adventus I. classis (Divinum Officium)
Or
Dom. 29 I Adventus I cl (Le Barroux)
Weekdays
Weekdays can in principle be anything from Class four (IV), the lowest rank, to Class One (I).
Class IV days: Monday to Friday (aka feria II-VI)
If a day is Class IV, such as this Friday, it uses the normal default texts for the time of year and day:
Friday
27 November – Class IV
= Feria
Sexta infra Hebd XXIV post Octavam Pentecostes V. Novembris IV. Classis (DO)
=FVI
27 ■ de ea 4cl. (LeB)
So you would simply use the psalter section of your Office book, plus the relevant collect for the week.
Class IV Saturdays (Sabbato): Office of Our Lady
If a Saturday is labelled Class IV, as is this coming Saturday, the Office of Our Lady on Saturday is used from Matins to None instead of some of the standard Saturday texts in the psalter:
Saturday
28 November – Class IV; Saturday of Our Lady
Sanctae
Mariae Sabbato IV. Classis (DO)
Sab. 28 de B.M.V. 4cl (LE B)
The relevant texts are found near the end of the Commons in most Office books. The Office of Our Lady has a few variants for the period after Christmas, and in Eastertide, but otherwise stays the same throughout the year, with the exception of the reading at Matins.
Note that prior to 1962, the Office of Our Lady had 1 Vespers (said on Friday night) and some monasteries still retain this custom.
Memorials
If a day is Class IV with a Memorial, the key addition is that a ‘commemoration’ (canticle antiphon, versicle, collect, in that order after the collect of the day) is made at Lauds only.
So this Tuesday for example, is described in my Ordo as:
Tuesday 24 November – Class IV; SS John of the Cross and Chrysogonus, memorials
My own Ordo gives you the relevant page number (‘for the commemorations at Lauds, MD [382-3]/AM 1148-9’), but it is easy to find in the Diurnal at least under the correct date in the Sanctoral section.
Divinum Officium tells you to make the commemoration at Lauds:
Feria Tertia infra Hebd XXIV post Octavam Pentecostes V. Novembris IV. Classis. Commemoratio ad Laudes tantum: S. Joannis a Cruce Confessoris et Ecclesiæ Doctoris
And the Le Barroux Ordo also includes an additional commemoration specific to their calendar (ie not in the General Calendar of the Order):
FIII 24 de ea 4cl
Cm. S. Ioannis a Cruce…dein cm. S. Chrysogoni…
As Le Barroux includes quite a few extra feasts in their calendar, you need to keep an eye out for these, as they may not appear in your Office book.
Summary
|
Day
of the week |
Level
of day |
Effect |
|
Sundays
(Dominica) |
Class
I or II only |
Start
at 1 Vespers of Saturday
|
|
Class
I |
Antiphons
and other texts displace normal Sunday
|
|
|
Class
II |
(At
least) Canticle antiphons and collect of the Sunday
|
|
|
Weekdays
(Feria II-VI, Sabbato)
|
Can
be Class IV - I |
|
|
Monday
to Friday (aka feria II-VI)
|
Class
IV |
‘Ferial’
or ordinary psalms and texts of season with collect of the liturgical week |
|
Saturday
(Sabbato) |
Class
IV |
Office
of Our Lady on Saturday (Matins to None)
|
|
Monday
to Saturday |
Class
IV + Memorial |
Make
a commemoration at Lauds |
More tomorrow, on the various levels of days and feasts.
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